


Caved In

by WritingWren



Series: Mother Hens of Marmora 'verse [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (do i even have to say that), Angst, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Violence, also, blood is shed, hurt!Antok, injured!Antok, it's not that bad but I guess it's worse than canontypical violence since there's no blood in canon, of course there is xD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 15:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12323571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingWren/pseuds/WritingWren
Summary: "Sure, running head-on into dangerous situations is some kind of signature move of his, but usually it’s just him. He can endanger himself if it means the mission is a success. This time, though, it’s Antok who has to pay for Keith’s recklessness. And it’s all his fault."





	Caved In

**Author's Note:**

> IT IS DONE. Seriously though, I’m sorry this took so long (even for a monster of over 7000 words). I just kept changing things, and re-writing paragraphs, and I’m still not sure if I’m satisfied with it or even like it at all…  
> BUT it’s here now, anyway. There you go, @guardianofsilvennium, this is your fault anyway xD Though it didn’t turn out like planned (or your original prompt) at all...  
> As always, thanks to @paladin-pile for the au in general.  
> Enjoy~
> 
> [UPDATE: I wrote a little extra bit (just the ending) because I got a prompt on tumblr, so there's more now. Yay for Galra cuddles!]

They’re back on another ice planet, similar to Eta Dorsi 5 but uninhabited. It doesn’t even have a name, just a lot of snow, ice and emptiness. There’s mountains, too, covered in snow just like the rest of it. Keith doesn’t like it. He has a bad feeling about this, and he doesn’t even know why. But they got a distress signal and as paladins of Voltron it’s their duty to follow it. And Antok’s, apparently. Since that last time Keith rushed head-first into a fight he was destined to lose one member of the pack has been coming along.

Hunk is holding the… whatever the gadget is called he built, if it even has a name. Anyway, it beeps, and it has some kind of radar that tells them they’re getting closer to their target. All of them concentrate on it when Shiro holds out his arm, effectively stopping them.

“What is that?” he asks, looking at the horizon. A white wall is moving towards them, and it’s moving fast.

Pidge pales. “Snowstorm,” she whispers. Then, “SNOWSTORM!”

“Ohhh this is bad. Really bad.” Hunk’s voice is a squeak. “Can we just leave and come back later? _Please?_ ”

Shiro nods, keeping his calm as always. “We need to get out of here. Stay together and get back to the ship. Now!”

That’s when the thing Hunk built starts giving off a shrill tone, the little circle they’ve been following stops just a few dozen feet ahead.

“It’s close!” Keith urges. “What if whoever that is needs help? They’d get buried under the snow!” And he runs off like always.

“Keith!” Shiro and Antok shout at the same time. The Galra immediately starts moving, following him while Shiro makes a quick decision, sees that Antok has already got it and ushers at least the rest of the team back to the lions and to safety. They manage it just in time, the ice cold wind already gaining strength, but they get out of the snowstorm before it can get so bad that it would keep them from leaving.

Once they’re back on the castle Lance says, to everybody around, “Uhhm, guys? Did Keith just run off into a freaking _snowstorm_? How are we supposed to get him and Antok out of that?”

Shiro sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose before raking his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know yet, Lance. We’ll think of something.” Just for good measure, he tries to contact Keith through his helmet, but there’s no answer, only static. He turns to Pidge and Hunk. “Can you two get a signal from him, find his location so we can get them out?”

Pidge nods. “Yeah, sure, on it.”

“It’s possible he reached the point the distress signal was coming from, right?” Hunk adds. “We should look for him there…”

The two of them leave, already talking about what they’re going to do first.

*

Back on the ice planet, Keith manages to reach a cave just when the storm gets so bad that you can’t see any more outside, Antok right on his heels.

“Keith,” he growls, and the red paladin, whose mind has gone blank for a moment there, concentrated on his goal and his goal only, comes back to his senses.

“Oops.” He makes himself smaller in the face of Antok’s anger, rather out of instinct than a conscious decision. The tall Galra’s expression softens at that and smoothes over into something exasperated but fond.

“Just what am I ever going to do with you? Running off on your own is _dangerous_.” When Keith looks down guiltily he sighs and holds out a hand. “Come here, youngling…”

There’s forgiveness in his voice so Keith looks up, relieved to see a hand reaching for him, and goes over for a cuddle. Antok is really good at this -cuddling, that is- and just holds him for a while until he speaks.

“We can’t go out there in this storm… Can you contact the castle?”

Keith tries, but shakes his head. “Just static. I think the storm might be messing with the technology…”

Antok just sighs. “I see…” he says. “Well, we’ll have to wait for the storm to let up anyway…” There really is nothing much to be done about it; they’ll have to wait here and try to contact the others as soon as they can. Keith looks around the cave, searching for anything they could use to start a fire -their armor, undersuit and fur, respectively, keep them warm, but itsn’t that what people do in this kinda situation?- but instead finds something else: As he concentrates on looking, offhandedly fiddling with the little flashlight Pidge has integrated into all of the paladins’ armor, his sight seems to improve, and he can make out a small, weakly green blinking device on the ground. With his flashlight on he can see a skeleton just a few feet away from it -the one initially sending the signal?- but chooses to ignore it for now, instead picking up the device and turning to Antok to ask if he, too, thinks that this might’ve been their distress signal. He stops when the other stares at him.

“What?” he asks.

“Your eyes,” the Galra replies, amazed. “They’re… Galra.” He grins, and if Keith didn’t know any better he’d say it’s an actual _proud_ grin -but what would he be proud of? “Your traits are showing!”

“My… traits?”

“Yes! Come here, we’ll try something…” He pulls Keith into his lap and covers the paladin’s eyes with a hand. “Try to listen. Concentrate and tell me what you hear.” Antok’s behavior is weird, but Keith trusts him, so he listens closely.

“I can hear… the storm outside.”

“Try harder.”

“The… your heartbeat? Your breathing.” A pause. “And mine.”

There’s a warm huff of air against his cheek. “That’s good, but you can do better… Concentrate, just a little more…”

Keith tries his best, but he just can’t hear anything else. He’s about to give up when, suddenly, there’s the sound of dripping water, quiet and far away.

“There!” Antok exclaims before Keith can say anything and guides one of his hands up to his ear. Keith will never admit that he ever made the shrieking sound that escapes him when he feels _the fur_. His ears are bigger, too, and pointed at the end. He’s pretty sure they’re Galra-violet.

“They’re not going to stay that way, are they?” he asks, worried.

“No, youngling. You’ll learn to control it, too. But it’s a very good thing. It means you are coming to terms with your heritage.” Antok is definitely sounding proud now.

“So,” Keith thinks out loud. “If my ears and eyes changed, will other things, too?” He bites his lip, worried. “I won’t grow a tail or something, will I?”

Antok doesn’t answer right away. “You might,” he says, eventually. “You’re half Galra, and a lot of us have tails… but it really depends on your Galra parent. Do you know if your mother had a tail?”

Keith shakes his head. “I don’t really remember her… Or my father, anyway.” He grimaces. “So it’s gonna be a surprise?”

He can hear Antok’s grin in his voice. “Well, if you do end up with one, you’ll see how awesome they are; I couldn’t imagine living without mine…” His tail comes into view, moving slowly, lazily, over the ground. “It can be like another arm at times…”

“Awesome?” Keith snorts. “Who taught you _that_ word, Hunk?”

The Galra growls playfully. “He might have.” A few seconds later all the playfulness disappears, Antok suddenly tensing and standing in one fluid motion, pulling Keith behind him in the process. In the light of the flashlight Keith can see him bare his teeth in the direction that leads farther into the cave.

“Antok?” he asks, frowning, reaching for his bayard. Antok has already drawn his blade. Keith has a bad feeling about this. “What’s going on?”

“Noxu,” he growls, low under his breath, serious now. “Reptiles. Live in trios. Hunt everything that moves. Use your Blade, only luxite can pierce their skin. Dangerous predators. Coming.”

There’s no time to ask any further questions; all of a sudden three of the biggest lizards Keith has ever seen are _right there_. They are about as big as a young calf, with streamlined bodies and heads like snakes -snakes with lots and lots of very sharp teeth. Antok roars and takes on two of them, managing to even behead one right away. The last one goes straight for Keith, running up the wall and just dropping on him faster than he can react, throwing him down and pinning him to the ground. Keith makes a pained sound when his back connects to the ground and Antok looks over, alarmed.

“Keith!” he shouts, his eyes widening when he sees the paladin immobilized, those lots and lots of very sharp teeth just inches from his face as the Noxu lets out a growl itself. He’s distracted for just a second, but the remaining Noxu he’s still fighting uses that to attack and sinks its teeth deep into the Galra’s leg. In that same moment, Keith manages to activate his luxite blade; it grows and pierces straight through the Noxu’s chest, and the ugly thing screeches as blood spurts from the wound, painting the ground and a part of Keith’s armor dark red. Then it’s still, slumping on top of him, and he can roll it off of himself and stand, just as Antok goes down.

The last Noxu is not letting go of his leg, growling ferally and Antok, unluckily, doesn’t have enough leverage to get in a good hit. Keith has to make a decision, and fast. He can’t just behead it, lest he hurt Antok in the process -he’s not sure if he’d have the necessary strength to do it anyway- and he can’t stab it like he did with the other one, because it’s right above Antok and the risk of stabbing the Galra is too big. His saber is not really made for stabbing anyway. So he slashes at the Noxu’s back, wounding it deeply enough that it lets go of Antok’s leg with a pained screech and turns to Keith, making a beeline for him now. The paladin moves out of instinct, blocking the teeth and redirecting the Noxu, making it crash into the wall where it goes down, unconscious at least if not dead. Keith follows, breathing heavily, and raises his saber to finish it when there’s a low, rumbling sound from above. The next moment the cave goes pitch black apart from Keith’s flashlight, and, looking over at the entrance and only seeing a wall of white, he realizes that it must have been an avalanche. Which basically means they’re trapped.

The Noxu at his feet stirs and Keith decides to get rid of that problem first. What little he could see of Antok’s injury before didn’t look good, but he doesn’t want to be attacked from behind. The easiest way to make sure it’s dead seems to be beheading it like Antok did with the first one, just that he doesn’t possess the Galra’s sheer strength. It takes a few attempts and in the end he’s breathing more heavily than before but the deed is done and he can turn back to Antok. And freezes.

It looks much, much worse than he initially thought -there’s so much _blood_ where the Noxu’s teeth pierced through his armor. When he rushes over to the Galra he sees why he is so awfully quiet; it looks like he lost consciousness, his face under the flashlight is pale and Keith really needs to stop the bleeding; no time to panic. Bandages, he needs some kind of bandages… The only thing he has is his undersuit, so he takes off the upper part of his armor and rips off a few strips before putting it back on. He doesn’t have anything to clean the wound with, either, so all he can do is to wrap it up as best as he can.

“Keith?” comes Antok’s quiet voice when he’s about done. It’s strained and just above a whisper but Keith is so relieved to hear it that he lets out the breath he hasn’t realized he’s been holding in a rush of air.

“Antok!” he exclaims, but before he can say anything further the Galra hushes him.

“It’s okay,” he says. “I’ll be fine.”

Well, he obviously isn’t now, and trapped here like this, without a possibility to contact the others, Keith doesn’t know how he’ll get any better any time soon. They don’t have any food or water, no light apart from Keith’s flashlight, and he doesn’t know how to survive a snowstorm -a sandstorm, yes, of course, but snow? He lived in a desert, not the Antarctic, for fucks sake! And how long is this storm going to go on anyway? He has to concentrate to hear it now, because of the wall of snow in front of the cave, but then he notices the howling of the wind. And even if the storm was over, they’d still need to get out of the cave somehow. Keith would have to get them out, anyway. He doesn’t think Antok could help, not with the state his leg is in; the Galra has lost consciousness again and it’s all Keith’s fault.

It’s Keith’s fault that they’re here at all. Keith’s fault for running straight ahead against any orders. Keith’s fault for not being fast enough to dodge the Noxu’s first attack; his fault Antok was distracted for the second it took the monster to bite him. It won’t get him anywhere to think about this now, though, so he goes over to the skeleton -trying very hard not to think about it as a human, or alien, or anything like that really. It’s just a skeleton, and he’s seen worse if he’s honest. Maybe that guy had something with him… or her, Keith can’t tell and it’s not important anyway. There’s scraps of what must have been clothing, ripped apart by the Noxu, Keith supposes. But a few feet away lies a tattered bag; there’s not much in it, a rusty metal cup with a hole in it and something that… might’ve been food rations, but they’re all rotten and not even recognizable anymore. He wonders how long this distress signal has been sending for… and he was stupid, so stupid, to follow it instead of going back with the others and to safety. Hindsight is easier than foresight, isn’t that how the saying goes?

*

“So, the signal is gone for some reason, but we still have the coordinates. So we should definitely start searching there and just hope that they managed to find cover in time…” Hunk explains; they’re all back on the bridge and listening to what the yellow and the green paladin have found.

“The only problem,” Pidge chimes in, “is that the readings we get from the planet are showing that the storm hasn’t eased up yet. We’ll have to wait for however long it’ll take until we can go back in or we won’t be able to do anything… and we’ll have to act quickly, because we can’t be exactly sure if another storm is going to start anytime soon; we’d need to monitor the whole planet much longer for that…”

“So we can’t do anything right now?” Lance asks. “We’ll just have to… wait?”

Shiro sighs. “I guess we can’t change that. We’ll prepare as best as we can in the meantime. We’re going to get them out of there as soon as possible.”

Nobody dares to voice the unspoken ‘ _If they_ _’re still alive_ _’_ for fear that it might be the truth.

It takes four days, almost five. Almost five days during which all of them get more and more restless, barely getting any sleep. How could they? Keith and Antok are out there - _they_ _’re not dead, they_ _’re not, they_ _’re not-_ without food or water, or warmth, in a full grown snowstorm. Hunk is on a baking spree whenever he’s not with Pidge, trying to locate Keith _again,_ just in case something has changed. Pidge is a nervous wreck whenever she’s not working with Hunk, thinking of new, terrible things to happen to her missing fellow paladin and Antok, coming up with new additions for their portable first aid box together with Ulaz. Lance wanders the castle, trying to find _something_ to do to little avail but nonetheless unable to stop moving, eventually joined by Thace. Shiro and Kolivan, once they’ve done what they could to prepare, spend most of their time monitoring the storm, and Allura and Coran stand by, just as worried and doing what they can but not able to dispel any of the others’ worries.

It feels like a race against time, and they all feel as if they are losing.

When finally the day comes, Pidge is checking up on Shiro and Kolivan and Shiro shakes his head, tiredly, telling her that nothing changed, when Pidge’s eyes go wide, looking at the screen behind them.

“It just changed!” she shouts, and runs off to gather the rest of the team -not the rest of the paladins, or Galra, or Alteans, but _team_ , because that’s what they’ve become- faster than Shiro or Kolivan could.

They know how to proceed. They’ve talked it through over and over again, because there was not much more to be done. They’ll find them now, get them back home and then they’re probably all going to pass out from exhaustion and sleep for three days straight. That’s going to come afterwards, though.

“Alright, team, let’s go get them out!” Lance cheers once they’re in their lions, and there’s a little pause where Keith usually would’ve made a snark remark, but they all ignore it.

“Couldn’t have said it any better,” Shiro says, with a little half-smile and they depart.

*

Keith doesn’t know how much time has passed. He has no way to tell, but he’s still hoping that the others are going to find them somehow. He does trust in his team, and refuses to give up when they certainly haven’t. It’s just… it really doesn’t look good.

Antok hasn’t been conscious in a while, and his leg looks even worse than before; Keith’s no doctor but he thinks it might be infected. It wouldn’t surprise him, since he had no way of disinfecting the wound, and all he had when he had to change the bandages was the tattered bag. He’s ripped it apart and used the strips, but he doesn’t think that was clean, either.

At some point the Galra has gotten a fever; he’s burning up, and all Keith can do is wrap up a little snow in one of the remaining scraps to put it on his forehead. He can watch the snow melt, though, and no matter how often he puts in new snow, the fever is not letting up. By now he can’t hold back the distressed little whines; he’s so worried that he almost forgets his own hunger and thirst.

Almost. But hunger and thirst are beasts of their own, gnawing at his guts and setting his throat aflame, and while the hunger comes and goes in waves, the thirst stays and gets worse with every second. He’s _so_ close to just eating snow -it’s frozen water after all, isn’t it?- but something is keeping him from it. He thinks he’s heard sometime, somewhere, that it can kill you, freezing you from the inside when your body temperature is too low already. So he doesn’t do it -barely. For now. Most of the time Keith’s busy being worried about Antok, anyway. There’s a very real possibility of losing him, and the mere thought brings tears to his eyes he’s not ashamed of. For one because nobody can see them anyway, but also because, while he might be close to all the Galra equally, Antok is still _special_. He’s not sure why, that’s just how it is.

And now he might die; and it’s all Keith’s fault. Even if they make it out of here in time, how could he look any of them in the eyes? What if they don’t want him around anymore after this? _If_ they make it out alive, that is. He knows that they told him time and time again that he wouldn’t be abandoned again, showed him, too, and he believed them, but after this? This could change everything, he thinks, because he’s never messed up this badly before. Sure, running head-on into dangerous situations is some kind of signature move of his, but usually it’s _just him_. He can endanger himself if it means the mission is a success. This time, though, it’s Antok who has to pay for Keith’s recklessness. And it’s all his fault.

The only thing he can do is wait for the storm to let up so he can at least try to get through the snow at the entrance of the cave; maybe outside the cave, without the storm interfering, he can contact the castle. He concentrates on listening, knowing his ears must’ve changed once his hearing improves, but he’s getting used to the idea of his eyes or ears looking like a full Galra’s for a while. That doesn’t change anything, though; whenever he listens more closely the only thing he can hear is the howling of the storm.

Until it is not.

*

Before they can even land on the planet, there’s a familiar roar and Red approaches them.

“Keith?!” Lance asks, dumbfounded, but there’s no answer besides a roar before the red lion veers away.

“I don’t think he’s in there,” Pidge says, thoughtfully, and Hunk adds, “But I think she’s gonna show us where he is.”

“Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let’s go!” Kolivan urges, and Shiro nods.

“Let’s follow her.”

Red lands in front of a mountain of snow and stops moving, facing it.

“So Keith is… under the snow?” Lance sounds worried.

Shiro hums. “Maybe there’s a cave or something?” he replies. He’s trying to reassure all of them, including himself, and is about to say more when all of a sudden, Kolivan goes rigid. Without another word the Galra exits the black lion, and Shiro can see the others do the same. Questions from the paladins remain unanswered for now. They can only watch the Galra standing in front of what they suppose to be a cave, heads lowered as if they were listening intently. And then Kolivan roars, an impressive sound, goes still again and looks up at the black lion.

“He’s in there. Both of them. Alive, at least,” he says, as Thace already starts to move the snow away with his bare hands -or try to, anyway.

“Alright then, move aside, me and my boy are gonna do this! These claws are best suited for some diggin’!” And once Kolivan and Ulaz have pulled away Thace, who growls lowly at first, the yellow paladin and his lion start moving the snow. In a matter of minutes half of it is gone, and it doesn’t take much longer before the entrance of a cave becomes visible. As soon as the opening is big enough, the Galra hurry through, followed a moment later by Shiro and Pidge while Hunk remains outside just in case something happens or there’s another avalanche (and really not because he’s scared of dark caves).

*

_Until it is not._

There’s a ‘thump’, a sound that’s more than just a little familiar to Keith and he lets out a relieved, half questioning whine when it’s repeated four more times.

Silence. Then: a roar, definitely Kolivan’s. It’s two things at the same time, reassuring statement and question, _We are here_ and _Are you there?_ all at once and Keith has returned a sound that’s not a whine but close, before his mind can even catch up with what’s happening.

It doesn’t take long for another sound to start, muffled through the snow but getting louder and louder until there’s an opening that gets bigger and bigger, and Keith blinks when the light from outside blinds him, but he gets up anyway. He’s made it halfway when Kolivan is coming towards him, followed by Thace and Ulaz. He pulls Keith into an almost-too-tight but much needed hug, letting go easily when the paladin tries to free himself.

“Antok,” he says, or croaks, tiredly, “You gotta get him first, he’s injured and-“

“We can smell it,” Ulaz interrupts. “This whole cave smells of death and pain…” Which, Keith thinks, is accurate enough, since the dead Noxu are still lying there and even though the paladin tried to pull them over into the corner, as far away from them as possible, their smell is not a pleasant one. And Antok is still unconscious and burning up. Without Kolivan’s hug holding him upright, he doesn’t have enough energy to stand even with the adrenaline surge and has to sit down for a moment.

“Whoa!” exclaims Lance in that moment, entering the cave with Shiro and Pidge and waving his hand in front of his face, grimacing at the smell. “I get that you guys are probably celebrating your reunion, but can we do that back in the castle?”

Pidge and Ulaz, who’s looking worried after having taken a first look at the injured Galra’s leg, push a button on a little cube that might be a new invention, because it folds out until it’s a gurney they put him on. The thing floats upwards, until it’s about the height of Ulaz’s hip and they bring him outside. Keith, not able to do any more for Antok but knowing he’s going to be well looked after now, is grateful for the momentary distraction and chance at easy banter with the blue paladin, shrugs. “Yeah well, you try to survive here for… how long has it been anyway?” He grimaces a little at hearing his own voice.

“Five days,” Shiro chimes in. “It’s been five days. And we need to get out of here, asap. We don’t know when the next snow storm is going to happen.”

This time, Keith is not about to go against the order; he can’t wait to get out of here. He can’t exactly walk that far on his own at the moment -far, ha! It’s just a few dozen steps, but what else would you expect after five days without food or water? But when Thace goes to help him up and outside, he growls lowly before his mind can catch up with what he’s doing. It’s not an angry growl, rather part defensive and part guilty, and he knows that the Galra can hear the difference, but he still looks a bit disappointed, even though he leaves him be. In the end it’s Lance supporting his weight until they’re outside, and Keith has never been so happy to breathe fresh air and see Red waiting for him. Their connection has been muted but it’s back now, and he doesn’t know how, but he knows that she couldn’t get to him because she had to put most of her energy into the particle barrier protecting her from the snowstorm.

“Dude, you need a shower,” Lance says, half-jokingly, once he lets go of him to get back to his own lion and Keith scoffs but doesn’t bother to reply, knowing his fellow paladin is right. Sitting down in his seat feels like coming home already, and he lightly skims over the armrests with his hands, feeling Red’s purr through their connection. “I’m sorry I left you alone so long, girl, I’m glad to be back, too,” he tells her quietly.

Kolivan is the last one to come out of the cave, and he gets into Red with Keith, not ready to let him out of his sight just yet. The paladin doesn’t object.

“Take us home, Red,” he says to his lion, trusting her to move on her own this time and find her way back, and how strange is it that he’s come to call the castle his home when he wouldn’t even do that with his shack…? There’s silence after that; Kolivan is not a man of many words, but this silence is not as comfortable as usually. Like the other members of the pack he’s picked up on Keith’s behavior, and he’s not pressuring him into anything -they’ve never done something like that to begin with. But he’s watching him, and once they’ve landed he comes forward.

Unlike Thace, he growls back at him in warning when Keith does, again rather out of instinct. “You will leave this lion either carried or supported by me like Lance did, youngling.” His tone of voice is final, a decision already made he won’t back down from and the paladin doesn’t even try to fight it, ducking his head.

Kolivan sighs. “Nobody is mad at you, kit,” he says. “We are just worried about you; all of us. Come now, let us get you something to eat and drink, and some sleep. Ulaz is going to tend to Antok for now, but I’m pretty sure he’ll want to have a look at you before you sleep; you know how he is.” With that he puts a steady arm around Keith, supporting his weight easily and Keith lets him do what he wants.

_You don_ _’t deserve it, though_ , an icy voice in the back of his head tells him. _Don_ _’t deserve help, or comfort; your fault, your fault, your fault._

He still lets them fuss over him, knowing nothing he could do would stop them now; not after five days, but that doesn’t mean their actions don’t make his stomach twist painfully with every touch, the icy voice whispering away in the back of his head, _your fault, your fault, your fault._ He hides it well enough so they don’t notice -probably just a sign of how tired they actually are. Lance, Hunk and Pidge especially are practically asleep on their feet, all of them staying only long enough to make sure he’s not about to die just yet, and, in Hunk’s case, until he’s made him some toast with butter or at least the alien version of it, before going to sleep. Shiro stays behind to lay a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s good to have you back,” he says quietly.

Keith nods. „It’s good to be back,“ he replies with an already less hoarse voice, even though he doesn’t feel like he deserves any of this. Someone -Allura?- has thrust a bottle of water into his hands at some point; he’s downed half of it in one go and now takes a last sip, feeling slightly nauseous.

The black paladin smiles. “Go get some sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow…” Keith nods, though he’s not sure how well he’ll sleep tonight after all.

The toast Hunk made him -one of Keith’s all time favorites, no matter where in the universe- is light on his stomach, something he’s grateful for, and it tastes just as good as anything else Hunk cooks; he tries to not wolf it down, to take it slow, but still clears the plate faster than he usually would have done. Thace and Kolivan stay with him, looking satisfied at seeing him eat. They’re keeping a distance, since Keith has made clear that he doesn’t want to be coddled right now, but aren’t willing to leave, either. Keith drinks another bottle of water, still incredibly thirsty, though he’s going slower now. Not able to eat anything else, he stands.

“I’m just gonna go take a shower,” he says, and, hearing his tone, Thace and Kolivan don’t even try to come along. That would be the worst. And unlike a few hours ago, his legs are not wobbly anymore, so there’s really no need for them to baby him. He hates that on good days; and this really isn’t one. Not when he’s feeling guilty on top of everything else. Not when he’s feeling like they’re too good for him. That’s a new one; usually he just always feels like people will grow tired of him sooner rather than later or just find out how weird he is and leave. Or he used to feel like that anyway. The pack has never once made him feel unwelcome; instead they showed him that he was never weird at all but just different from other humans.

But maybe that was a lie, with his legs, he thinks, once he’s out of their sight. He has to support himself against the wall, still too exhausted to put his entire weight on his legs for more than a few steps. He’s not sure he can shower like this, not sure he can hold himself upright for long enough, but he can still take a bath. If he ever gets there. He’s slow, like this, and has to take a break after less than half of the way to catch his breath. Which is how Ulaz finds him; the doctor looks tired.

“Keith?” he asks, frowning. „What are you doing here?“ He doesn’t really expect an answer, though -for now at least- and he doesn’t ask any more questions like ‘Where are the others’ or ‘Why are you on your own when you’re still in a state like this’, either. Instead he simply clicks his tongue.

“Well, I was going to get you anyway. Come along, youngling.” His tone is that of a doctor, used to see any orders followed, and Keith doesn’t protest when he helps him to support his weight. He doesn’t know how to feel about it, not feeling like he deserves any help or comfort from them, but at the same time craving it. Ulaz leads the way to a room just a few feet away; it looks a bit like a nurse’s office. The doctor motions for him to sit down and opens a few cabinets until he’s found what he was looking for. He comes back to Keith and hands him a glass with something that looks like water.

“Drink this,” he says. “You’ll feel much better in a few minutes. But don’t be fooled, while you’re going to feel better, your body still needs just as much rest as he would without this. _Do not_ overexert yourself, or the effects will wear off faster than you can say Quiznak, am I understood?”

Keith looks down and nods. “Yeah…” he mutters, and drinks whatever it is in a few big gulps, trusting Ulaz. He does feel better, it doesn’t take long and he’s not even tired anymore, not speaking of the exhaustion. He feels like _running_.

“ _Keith. No running._ ” Ulaz emphasizes every word, but there’s quiet humor in his voice so it doesn’t sound scolding, rather like he expected something like this. Keith really must be an open book to him. “I’ll let you go soon, kit, but I want to check you over first, just in case there’s something I missed…”

He gives him a quick but thorough medical, after which he pulls him into a hug to nuzzle him. “We’re all glad to have you back, kit, you know that, right?”

Keith makes a little sound that’s neither affirmation nor negation. Of course he knows. Doesn’t mean he has to think that’s right.

“Ulaz?“ he asks instead of an answer. “How’s Antok?” Keith doesn’t know if he wants to know the answer to that one, actually. But he’s the one who’s at fault for the Galra’s state.

The doctor gives him a long look, then smiles, ruffling Keith’s hair a little. “He’ll be fine, youngling. I had to operate on his leg, but he’s in the cryo pod now and he’ll be perfectly healthy once he comes out of there.” He pauses. “Keith, how did he get that injury?”

The paladin looks away. “Noxu. One pushed me down and he got distracted and… and that other one bit him.” _Your fault, your fault, your fault,_ the little voice keeps whispering in the back of his head.

Ulaz’s eyes widen a little. “Noxu? Are you-“ He stops himself before he can start another medical; he’s just done one, there was nothing major, no injuries at least, Keith is fine, according to the circumstances. “We’ll talk about that later. How about you go take a shower now and then come join us in the nest?”

Keith nods a little and leaves; looks like he’ll be able to have that shower after all. But once he’s done with that, dirt and grime flowing down the drain in an almost mesmerizing way, he can’t go to the nest. He just can’t, not when he’s messed up this badly. He knows Ulaz said Antok will be fine, and he knows the doctor would never lie to him and that they still want him around -he just doesn’t understand _how._ So, instead of going back to the nest, he goes to the room with the cryo pods. Antok doesn’t look _bad_ per se, more like he’s sleeping. He’s still pale, though that might be the light, and his leg is far from being fully healed but Keith knows it’s going to be. Keeping watch is the least he can do now, so he sits against the control panel, facing Antok’s cryo pod.

He must’ve fallen asleep, because when he wakes there’s warmth, a blanket around his shoulders and three bodies cuddled up to him. Of course they’d come to seek him out if he didn’t go and join them. They’re dead to the world; they probably didn’t get much sleep this last week, either. Too tired to worry about anything, Keith just goes back to sleep.

It takes another full day for Antok to recover. Keith never leaves his side for longer than a few minutes at a time, to get some food, or something to drink; he’s feeling better already, even as he feels the effects of whatever it is Ulaz gave him wear off. He really just needed rest. A lot of it, but he’s much better now. Kolivan, Thace and Ulaz stay with Keith, and, little by little, he tells them what happened; about the cave, the skeleton, and the Noxu.

Kolivan and Ulaz don’t look surprised at the mention of the beasts, but Thace does. His eyes widen. “Noxu?!” he gasps, „Did you-„ He looks at Ulaz. „You checked him for any injuries, right?“ At the doctor’s nod Thace turns to Kolivan, opens his mouth, but the other Galra beats him to it.

“Yes, I realized back in the cave. I got the teeth.” Thace seems to calm down at that, but now Keith is confused.

“Teeth?” he asks.

Kolivan hums. „Defeating Noxu is no mean feat, youngling, even with luxite blades. The teeth are trophies for you and Antok.”

“Oh.” Keith thinks he’d much rather have Antok safe and sound.

Which is when there’s a hiss and a cloud of steam as the cryo pod opens, letting out a still somewhat dazed Antok. Kolivan moves quickly, catching him before he can fall, holding him until he’s more aware of his surroundings. It’s quite the commotion, because just like Keith, the others have been waiting for this, of course. But the moment he sees he’s alright now, standing on his own two feet with his leg fully healed, Keith just can’t stay any longer. How can he stay with them?

He doesn’t run. He walks. Maybe he walks a little bit faster than he usually would, but he doesn’t run. He ends up in his room -his old room, if he’s honest. It’s still oficially his, but he hasn’t been here in ages. It feels cold and impersonal but he doesn’t know where else to hide. Everything else, apart from the den, is public. So he just sits on the bed, hugging his knees and resting his head on top of them. He doesn’t know what he’s waiting for; he doesn’t even know _if_ he’s waiting for anything. He isn’t really… But something happens anyway, a little while later.

The door opens and Antok comes in, and shouldn’t he be with the others or something? Instead he’s here; sits on the bed with Keith, silently.

“Pretty cold here, isn’t it?” he remarks, after a long moment. His voice is soft, exceptionally so. Keith doesn’t say anything; he feels nauseous all of a sudden. “Keith, kit, why are you here and not with us? We’re missing you in the nest…” And damn, Keith doesn’t deserve this, and he’s not gonna cry. He’s not. He just shakes his head; he doesn’t think he could answer right now. He’s too busy trying to bite back the tears.

There’s a sigh, and then movement, and before he knows it Keith has been pulled into Antok’s lap. He doesn’t know if it’s the reassuring purr, the sudden closeness or the familiar hand in his hair that does it, but he loses the fight against the tears. Keith can count the times in his life he’s cried on the fingers of one hand, and never has he cried in front of somebody else.

“I’m sorry,” he says through the tears. “’m sorry… my fault… ‘m sorry…”

Antok simply holds him close, the hand petting his hair never stopping. “I know, little one, apology accepted… hush, it’s alright now… Nobody’s mad at you, but I suppose that’s not the problem, huh?“ He murmurs reassurances, purrs and nuzzles Keith until the tears finally stop, and the half Galra peeks up at him. “There you are,” Antok says and kisses his forehead. If anybody else tried that, Keith would _end them_ , but Antok is allowed. He’s allowed a lot of things others aren’t. For what it’s worth, Keith feels better, a lot.

Silence spreads, but it’s a comfortable one this time. Antok is the one to break it.

“Say, did you tell the others about your traits?” he asks. Keith shakes his head. To be honest, he’s completely forgotten about it; that little detail simply slipped his mind. The Galra grins. “We should go and tell them. I really want to see their faces…” He ruffles Keith’s hair. “They’re going to be _so_ _proud_ of you…”

And just like that, Keith’s world has shifted back to normal, the guilt not fully gone yet but he’ll get there. He stands and stretches, feeling a good kind of exhausted, and smiles at Antok.

“Let’s go.”

The other members of the pack look up when Antok comes into the room, Keith trailing behind him, but there’s no questions about what happened or where Keith was, and no reaction other than them moving over to make room for Antok and Keith. 

So they sit with the others, just enjoying the warmth and the closeness for a while, now that they’re all together again. And if Keith melts just a little, nobody has to know -he’s been away for almost a week, in a situation some might call traumatizing and he’s just… done something they’re not gonna talk about again. Ever. He’s exhausted, the good kind of exhausted, but still exhausted. So here, in the warmth and safety of the nest, he allows himself to doze off a little, not sleeping but not bothering to keep his eyes open, either. He doesn’t notice the looks the others give Antok.

“Alright,” Thace says eventually. “You have to tell us what’s up. Because something _is_ up.”

Antok sounds smug. “Oh, it’s just…” A hum. “How about we show them, youngling?”

Keith yawns a little and lazily opens one of his eyes. “Right now?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Oh well.” He closes his eyes again and doesn’t open them until his hearing improves. A gasp from Thace is his reward, and when Keith opens his eyes this time, he sees the proud grins Kolivan and Ulaz give him. Kolivan makes a sound between a purr and a proud growl, seemingly growing a few centimeters even though he’s sitting and Keith straightens his back just a little bit himself. Is it strange that he’s proud of making them proud? The paladin can see Thace’s fingers twitch, sighs and motions for him to touch if he wants, which gets him a bright grin. He purrs at the feeling; he didn’t think it’d feel that nice… 

“I suppose it happened in that cave?” Ulaz asks. When Keith nods, careful not to dislodge Thace’s hand, the doctor hums. “It might’ve been triggered by the situation…” He pauses, then adds, curious, “Are the ears the only thing yet?”

At which Keith has to show them how his eyes change, too, which seems to make them even _more_ proud, for some reason. He thought it’d make him uncomfortable to see their reactions, but it really just feels warm and overall amazing. He could get used to this…

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Feedback always appreciated!  
> I really want to write the Baby!Keith one next... but then again, I also kinda want to give you guys the birthday fic around my birthday and I guess that one's coming first... also so you guys can have some wholesome fluff before the next angsty one xD
> 
> Also didn't forget your comments! But I have to hurry now (because uni and life)... I'll answer as soon as I can though, promise!


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